Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 2/8/20

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Image result for not pretty has to be gritty

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"What do you mean South Carolina will win!?"

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UConn has clearly struggled this season at times. They got slapped around the last 6 minutes of the No. 2 Baylor loss and most of the game against No. 3 Oregon. They were terrible in the second half of the DePaul game, first half of the first Memphis game and much of the UCF game. I'm sure there have been other bad minutes here and there. That is way more lousy basketball than we are all used to. However, the optimist in me says they play WAY more great basketball than lousy basketball. I don't know about you, but I have enjoyed this season. At times it's been a mystery as to which team we will see, but for the most past, there has been some really good basketball.

They have been waiting all season to find their mojo and boy, did they find it once Anna Makurat was inserted in the starting lineup. Yes, she was playing starter minutes, but there is something about being on the court when your name is announced that does something to a player and with her on the court, the odds of a slow start diminish greatly.

She has done some great things when she is on the court. She adds another play-maker to the starting lineup. I'm so impressed with how she runs the court and her court vision is right there with Dangerfield, if not better. She played in Poland's top pro league and prior to that she was a point guard. She plays like it. Her handle is surprisingly good.

Certainly UConn has their hands full on Monday night against No. 1 South Carolina. They are a big team, but not as big with Laeticia Amihere not available. She made the Canadian Senior team and will be with them.

However, while they are the No. 1 team in the country, I sense a vulnerability on this team. They do have a Senior point guard in Harris, and a Senior forward and leader in Herbert Harrigan along with Junior Grissett off the bench. However, the rest of the players that contribute are Sophomores Saxton and Henderson and four freshmen, Boston, Cooke, Beal and the missing Amihere. That is a lot of youth that this team really relies on. We all know how youth can sometimes react to big games.

I'll have a lot more in my pregame report. But let me just say that South Carolina is due for an upset and UConn is due to do some upsetting.

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There were some interesting late games Friday that I didn't have a chance to write about.

In an upset, No. 10 UCLA beat No. 6 Stanford 79-69. The PAC 12 is such a competitive conference with no team being safe from being surprised. This game has particular interest to UConn fans who care about the polls. With No. 4 UConn, No. 5 Louisville and now No. 6 Stanford losing this week, I think UConn just might stay at No. 4. I can't see No. 7 North Carolina State jumping all the way to four.

The other game was just insane. No. 10 Oregon State was able to score 4 points on two baskets in the last 3 seconds of the game to beat No. 19 Arizona State 64-62. I can't explain it, but here is what ESPN wrote about it.

"Oregon State was trailing 62-60 after Ja'Tavia Tapley hit a 15-footer with 2.6 seconds left. But the Beavers responded. Goodman inbounded the ball to Maddie Washington, who found Kat Tudor open under the basket on a backdoor cut for an uncontested layup with 0.4 on the clock. ASU had a turnover attempting to inbound the ball, and that set up Pivec's game-winning field goal in the lane that bounced on the rim before dropping, setting off a prolonged on-court celebration."

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On Saturday, No. 2 Baylor was able to overcome a poor offensive performance to beat Kansas State 54-40. The Bears were not very good in this game and two players that really hurt UConn in their loss to Baylor were just awful in this game. Nylissa Smith did score 10 points, but she fouled out in 18 minutes. She had 20 points and 12 rebounds against the Huskies. And T'ea Cooper was 3-17 in this game and 1-3 on threes in scoring 8 points with 1 assist. She score 27 points and had 5 assists against UConn. Every team has it's up and downs.

While the Baylor offense that shot 38% and scored only 54 points doesn't deserve any recognition, their opponents, Kansas State, were just god awful, and it's my duty to point it out, even though David did a great job as usual with his stats about this game. Am I piling on? You bet!!!

The Wildcats were just that, wild in their shooting. They were 13-61 from the field for a sparkling 21.3% and maybe the worst three point shooting effort to date, they were 0-18. Yes, ZERO, ZILCH, ZIP on 18 attempts.

This was good enough to an UGGY. A well deserved on.

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By David in Naples!!!!

Baylor beat Kansas State 54-40 today. It was a very unimpressive Baylor win. K State is 10-11.

Consider:

1. Cox played 38 minutes and scored 6 points on 3-10 shooting.

2. Baylor had 8 points in the 4th quarter and only 13 in the 1st.

3. Cooper went 3-17 and just kept shooting, and shooting....

4. Baylor made only 2 threes... out of only 4 tries.

5. Kansas State went 0-18 from three and the game was still close. (Doggy may give an Uggy)

6. Baylor shot 38% from the field and 60% from the charity stripe.

7. Baylor had 14 assists and 10 turnovers vs bad opponent.

I know Baylor beat UConn handily. But, they were not improved since that game today. Going into the NCAA without getting much better gives the Huskies hope.

Go Huskies..!!